


Statu Variabilis

by youjik33



Category: Oxenfree (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21842455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youjik33/pseuds/youjik33
Summary: Round and round and round it goes...
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Statu Variabilis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laurea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurea/gifts).



“I want to find all the pieces,” Alex said as she switched off the radio.

“I get that,” Jonas said, “But do you think they’re even all going to fit together into anything… coherent?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I feel like we’ve got part of the picture. Nuclear radiation causing the time distortion makes sense, I guess, right?”

“I guess. I’m not a theoretical physicist.”

“Yeah, me neither. Still, I keep feeling like if we just figure out how it does fit, maybe we can actually, I don’t know, help them?” 

The birds were starting to stir, and Jonas noticed a faint grayness spreading across the horizon. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. “Well, we better figure it out fast. What did that one even mean? Who the heck is Bobby Dunbar?”

“I don’t know,” Alex said. “But I know who you am, and I know you are, and nothing else makes a difference.”

“Ha,” he said dryly as they picked their way down the narrow path to the woods. “Seriously though, how do you feel about our odds?”

 _“Statu variabilis,”_ Alex replied.

“Huh?”

“Statu-- no, never mind, just going on a tangent, don’t listen to me.” Alex looked up at the sky over the treetops. Did she notice the light too? 

“So what now?” Jonas asked to fill the silence. “Keep on keepin’ on?”

“Keep on keepin’ on,” Alex said with a grin. 

\----------

“I want to find all the pieces,” Alex said as she switched off the radio.

“I get that,” Jonas said, “But do you think they’re even all going to fit together into anything… coherent?”

“Honestly, at this point, I’m starting to really doubt it. But I can’t just give up. I refuse to just give up.”

“No, I get that,” Jonas said. He’d been impressed by her determination all night. The fact that she could still have hope at this point was downright incredible. But the birds were starting to stir, and Jonas noticed a faint grayness spreading across the horizon. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. “Well, we better figure it out fast. What did that one even mean? Who the heck is Bobby Dunbar?”

“The name seems kinda familiar,” Alex said thoughtfully. “He was a kid who went missing like a hundred years ago, and then the family thought they found him, but the kid they found might have just been some other kid who kinda looked like theirs? And they maybe stole him from his real family while accusing his actual mom of being a kidnapper.”

“Well, that sounds horrifying for everyone involved.”

“Yep. I mean, my barometer for horrifying situations is pretty skewed after tonight, but, yeah, horrifying.”

“I definitely feel that. Seriously though, how do you feel about our odds?”

 _“Statu variabilis,”_ Alex replied.

“Huh?”

 _”O fortuna, velut luna, statu variabilis._ I don’t know why I’m thinking about this right now. It’s from Carmina Burana. You know it, it’s that creepy epic Latin chanting they use in commercials and movie trailers all the time. For some reason we sang it as the opening for the ninth grade choir holiday concert.”

“I didn’t know you sang,” he said.

“I don’t, unless I have forty other kids on risers next to me. Anyway, the song is all about how life sucks and how even if it seems like you’re on top now the wheel of fortune will spin and you’ll end up back down on the bottom eventually.”

“Kind of a weird choice for a holiday concert.”

“Tell me about it. Merry Christmas from Satan. Also, making a bunch of teenagers memorize that much Latin was an exercise in futility. Half the time I was just singing ‘rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.’ Anyway, yeah, dunno why I’m thinking about it now. I guess your mind just starts wandering when it’s four a.m. and you’ve been terrorized by ghosts all night.”

“So what now?” Jonas asked to fill the silence. “Keep on keepin’ on?”

“Keep on keepin’ on,” Alex said with a grin. 

\----------

“I want to find all the pieces,” Alex said as she switched off the radio. 

“I get that,” Jonas said, “But do you think they’re even all going to fit together into anything… coherent?”

“I don’t know.” She sounded exhausted, in a way he’d never heard from her before. She turned from the rock pile and took a few steps, and then just sank to her knees, less of a fall and more of a slow-motion crumple. “Jonas, I don’t know if I can keep doing this.”

“Hey, hey, don’t say that.” He stepped toward her, then hesitated. Should he put his hand on her shoulder? Would that be comforting, or just awkward? “We’re gonna get into that cave and fix things. We’re so close.”

“Close to what, exactly?”

That voice was not Alex’s. More precisely, it was many voices, and none of them were hers, even though they were coming from her mouth. She stood and turned to face him, and he forced himself to stay where he was, not back away, not avert his eyes. Hers were glowing red, which wasn’t a shock, exactly, but still sent a jolt of horror down his spine.

“Poor child,” they said with Alex’s mouth. “So tired. You’ve been trying for so long. Longer than you know.” 

“Alex,” he said cautiously. She – it-- they – just laughed. He hadn’t really expected anything else.

“She’s resting right now, Jonas.”

“Give her back.” Why was he even bothering? Like they would just bow out and leave them alone if only he asked. 

“Why should we? Don’t you think the poor girl deserves some rest? Struggling and struggling like a fly in a web of her own making. Stop the ride, I want to get off!” The ghosts laughed, and it sounded so cruel and twisted and unlike Alex’s actual laugh that Jonas wanted to be sick. “As if we wouldn’t do the same if we only could. It seems like she’s just about ready to give up.”

“No,” Jonas said. “Alex, if you can hear me--” And there was no reason to assume she could; he had never been able to hear her at all, when he’d been on the other end of this-- “Don’t give up! I know it seems bad right now, but if you just hang on – _statu variabilis_ , remember?”

“What?” The red in Alex’s irises flashed, and her hands trembled for a second. Just long enough for her to lose her grip on the radio. It tumbled into the dew-drenched path, and Jonas scooped it up without thinking.

“It’ll get better,” Jonas said, trying to dig mud out of the speakers. “If the wheel spins you down to the bottom then that just means it’ll move up again eventually, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Not-Alex snapped, and Jonas realized he had no idea. 

He flipped the radio on, droning static drowning out the hammering of his heart. God, this had better work. He tried to remember what Alex had done when Ren had been possessed, and flipped the dial as fast as he dared, while hoping, praying for something to happen.

He couldn’t explain how he knew when he’d found the right frequency, exactly; he just felt it, and the ghosts must have too, because the air suddenly felt like it was vibrating and Alex went completely still. Jonas moved the dial to seek the second frequency, and then stopped, because he heard something else, something familiar, something that made him want to laugh and cry and throw the radio into the ocean and hold it close to his heart.  
He didn’t know how long he stood staring down at it, listening to the gentle ukulele music coming from the dirty speakers. 

“Is this some kinda joke?” he said finally. Alex didn’t respond, not so much as a twitch. “Seriously, is this just to mess with me or what?”

Silence. Whether they couldn’t respond or didn’t want to, he didn’t know. Angry now, Jonas turned the dial again, and couldn’t quite bring himself to watch as Alex’s body floated into the air and then finally collapsed in a heap on the ground.

“Ugh,” she groaned, and he reached down to help pull her to her feet. “Well, that was terrible.”

“Honestly,” Jonas said, “I actually think I prefer being on _that_ side of it. This sucked, and I don’t know how you manage to keep doing it.”

“I’m not sure either,” Alex said with a sigh. “Um, but thanks. And not just for… exorcising me or whatever. I mean for everything. It’s been the longest night ever and it would’ve been even worse without you.”

“Yeah, no, same.” Jonas was pretty sure he was blushing, and quickly shoved the radio back toward Alex. “So what now? Keep on keepin’ on?”

“Keep on keepin’ on,” Alex said with a grin. 

\----------

“I want to find all the pieces,” Alex said as she switched off the radio.

“I get that,” Jonas said, “But do you think they’re even all going to fit together into anything… coherent?”

“You know what? Yes. I do. I really do. Eventually.”

“Cool,” he said as they picked their way down the narrow path to the woods. They were silent for several minutes, listening to the birds starting to warm up for the day. Jonas wondered if the towhees had any idea of what had been going on on their island. 

“So what now?” he asked eventually, to fill the silence. “Keep on keepin’ on?”

“Keep on keepin’ on,” Alex said with a grin.


End file.
